CSI Was Pitched to ABC First.

bill_az

bill_az

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Talk about an epic fail.

I'm reading the book Disneywar about the troubled tenure of Michael Eisner at Disney, his fights with Roy Disney, etc.. Apparently the following story played out.

Two weeks after ABC and Touchstone Pictures merged (and by all accounts, it was ugly), the new head of Touchstone Steve McPherson set up a meeting with the drama department at ABC to pitch CSI to the network.

Steve McPherson and Robert Iger, among others, were already competing for Eisner's job as CEO of Disney. The author describes initial meetings between the TV network and the film studio as "glacial." Lloyd Braun (yes, the one from Seinfeld) wrote to Eisner that the merger was an "unmitigated disaster."

But I digress.

So McPherson, Jerry Bruckheimer and Anthony Zuiker show up to pitch the show to ABC. Zuiker described how he had been a hotel tram driver in Las Vegas, how he had been permitted to follow the real LVPD CSIs around for a few weeks, and fired off a few test scripts to Bruckheimer. They also pointed out that the public was still fascinated about forensics from the Orenthal Simpson debacle. Bruckheimer also had huge sway at Disney--at the time he was their most successful film producer.

ABC passed.

Jerry and Anthony were not happy. And neither was Touchstone, who suggested they shop the idea elsewhere, since they could make huge profits if the show went into syndication. They walked over to CBS, who wanted to pick up the show because their drama chief was a big fan of "Quincy" with Jack Klugman.

Touchstone had already produced TV content for other networks, and made money doing it, but something got in Eisner's craw about this particular series. He evidently said that he didn't care if CSI was a hit on another network--they could pull the production budget at a moment's notice and leave any rival network with a huge hole in their schedule. And Eisner apparently didn't like Jerry, calling him a "profligate spender."

So Jerry craftily circumvented the production rights by lining up another producer, Alliance Atlantis, raised their own money from future foreign syndication rights. Les Moonves told CBS to make up any difference...

and voila! :thumbsup:

Stewart, James B, Disneywar. New York, Simon & Schuster, 2005.

http://www.amazon.com/DisneyWar-Jam...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287276119&sr=1-1
 
I remember when I first read this a few years, Disney had said CSI was "Too confusing for the average viewer" :wtf::lol:

Boy look at what they've missed out on, a 10 year old show who's still doing pretty darn good with 2 sucessful spinoffs, :lol: man I can only imagine some of the fights they've had about letting CSI slip past them
 
ABC executives should be punished for life for their mistake.The channel lost lots of millions because of their stupid decision.
 
Screw ABC!!!!!!! :lol:

I don't feel bad about it one bit because CBS has always been my favorite network.

However, this isn't totally unique. Nets have been kicking themselves for years of ones that have gotten away.

NBC passed on Desperate Housewives.

CBS passed on The Cosby Show.

ABC passed on All in the Family.

NBC passed on House.

And, the biggest to me -

UPN (yes, the net that merged with WB to create The CW) passed on American Idol. Could you imagine the ramifications on TV today if UPN, not FOX, would have gotten that behemoth?
 
I think the story was less about ABC passing on the show, and more about the culture of intellectual hubris that Eisner had brought into Disney. At the time, Disney's resurgence was still a new phenomenon.

And Bruckheimer was already one of the most successful producers at that time. Telling him to stuff it would be the modern equivalent of turning your back on Cecil B. DeMille.

sharp52092 said:
Boy look at what they've missed out on, a 10 year old show who's still doing pretty darn good with 2 sucessful spinoffs, :lol: man I can only imagine some of the fights they've had about letting CSI slip past them
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To be honest, if ABC had let CBS produce the show, they would have been about break-even during the first-run.

It's the syndication rights they could have taken to the bank. CSILV has been in syndication for at least 6 years now. Miami and NY were in syndication within 2 years of their first runs. No actors to pay, no helicopter shots of the Bellagio to pay for...just the pittance of beaming that signal up to a satellite.
 
ragincajun said:
NBC passed on Desperate Housewives.

NBC passed on House.
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LOLs, look at where NBC is now, struggling to make a new hit. 'The Event' is a good show but is now declining fast in the ratings. Undercovers and Chase are goners. I guess a show's fate also relies on what network it is on. I wonder if DH and House would be succesful had they been on NBC.

About ABC passing on CSI, I think it's stupid. If they thought CSI wouldn't be successful, why not just give it a try. I mean, all shows yet to premiere have tendencies to fail. Good thing, it didn't pass Modern Family!
 
DonPrank said:
LOLs, look at where NBC is now, struggling to make a new hit. 'The Event' is a good show but is now declining fast in the ratings. Undercovers and Chase are goners. I guess a show's fate also relies on what network it is on. I wonder if DH and House would be succesful had they been on NBC.

About ABC passing on CSI, I think it's stupid. If they thought CSI wouldn't be successful, why not just give it a try. I mean, all shows yet to premiere have tendencies to fail. Good thing, it didn't pass Modern Family!
Click to expand...

Yeah and would American Idol have still been a big hit if CW had taken it (I doubt it) and if ABC had taken CSI, how different would the show have been, would we had/have the same actors/actresses and etc.????? :eek:
 
sharp52092 said:
Yeah and would American Idol have still been a big hit if CW had taken it (I doubt it)
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Oh, I don't think it would have been as big a hit for UPN either. However, it may have been successful enough that UPN would have never merged with WB, which would have just closed up shop, and CW would have never been formed. We might even still have Enterprise around. ;)

However, the biggest thing if UPN would have picked up Idol is FOX wouldn't be the demo king that it is right now. The net was performing ok before Idol, but it never really threatened CBS, ABC, or NBC in the ratings. Also, without Idol, shows like House, Bones, and 24 would have never broke through to the next level either.
 
sharp52092 said:
DonPrank said:
LOLs, look at where NBC is now, struggling to make a new hit. 'The Event' is a good show but is now declining fast in the ratings. Undercovers and Chase are goners. I guess a show's fate also relies on what network it is on. I wonder if DH and House would be succesful had they been on NBC.

About ABC passing on CSI, I think it's stupid. If they thought CSI wouldn't be successful, why not just give it a try. I mean, all shows yet to premiere have tendencies to fail. Good thing, it didn't pass Modern Family!
Click to expand...

Yeah and would American Idol have still been a big hit if CW had taken it (I doubt it) and if ABC had taken CSI, how different would the show have been, would we had/have the same actors/actresses and etc.????? :eek:
Click to expand...

Yeah. The pass made ABC look stupid but it was a blessing-in-disguise for CSI. Who knows, CSI might be dead a long time ago or the cast might be different and some of us might not be fans of the show.
 
DonPrank said:
About ABC passing on CSI, I think it's stupid. If they thought CSI wouldn't be successful, why not just give it a try. I mean, all shows yet to premiere have tendencies to fail. Good thing, it didn't pass Modern Family!
Click to expand...
The big problem would be ABC/Touchstone having to front the production costs, which were estimated to be $1 million per episode. That's a $20 million investment if you buy a full season. CBS ran with it because they only had to front $200k of each episode. Bruckheimer had self-financed the rest.

I doubt a cast had been considered--casts often gel suddenly and in strange ways. Jerry Stiller rejected Seinfeld originally; Harrison Ford was originally hired by George Lucas as a carpenter. Although I'm sure there were character treatments written, about the desired qualities of each personality.
 
r u serious! ABC passed on a show like CSI but gave the "Green Light" to shows like "Cougar Town" and "The Middle". Have u seen these shows. eck!! :vulcan:

I bet someone is kicking themselves over at ABC right now!! :guffaw:

Wedges3-1.jpg
 
Even though in hindsight it seems to be a ridiculously boneheaded move on ABC's part, that's the thing; it's hindsight. When "CSI" first aired, there was really nothing like it on U.S. television (though Canada had the superb "Da Vinci's Inquest" series, which broke a lot of this ground well ahead of "CSI"). No one had a crystal ball allowing them to see into the future and know that not only would "CSI" be successful, but it would spawn its own franchise and countless other series following a similar or related premise.

So it was only natural to look at the idea of a show being pitched about a bunch of what probably appeared to be forensic science and/or lab geeks and wonder how on earth that was going to appeal to a mass audience. Well, now we know!
 
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